Lenovo IdeaPad L340 Gaming

The market for heavy-hitting budget gaming laptops has risen these past few years. The recent release of Nvidia’s mobile GTX 1600s series GPUs makes sure that these types of laptops can run some of the latest games with ease. The Lenovo Ideapad L340 Gaming is one of the first laptops from the brand to integrate these new GPUs. Does it live up to its promises?

- Gabriel Pe

DESIGN

The Lenovo IdeaPad L340 Gaming shares the aesthetics of Lenovo’s other Ideapad laptops, with a sleek metallic finish on the cover and durable plastic in the interior.

This laptop isn’t exactly slim, yet is not heavy despite its bulk. Opening the laptop, you’ll be greeted by the 15.6-inch FHD IPS display. You’ll immediately notice the webcam with Lenovo’s webcam cover, a nice touch in my opinion.

You’ll also see the backlit keyboard. I like how Lenovo used blue LEDs instead of white, or RGB. It is easy on the eyes but bright enough to be able to work in the dark.

If you’re the type of gamer who prioritizes peripherals, you might be disappointed with this laptop. I/O ports are extremely limited. There are two USB 3.1 Type-As, a USB Type-C, the power dock, the RJ45, an audio port, and the HDMI 2.0 port on the left side of the laptop. A lone Kensington lock is found on the right side.

HARDWARE

The Lenovo IdeaPad L340 is powered by an Intel Core i5-9300H CPU paired with an Nvidia GTX 1650 with 4 GB of VRAM. The processor duo is perfect for someone who wants to game but can’t commit to heavy gaming. The GTX 1650 can handle any current triple-A title albeit not at max resolution. If, like me, you’re not a picky gamer, then you’ll want this laptop.

Our demo unit had 8 GB of DDR4 RAM—not the most in a laptop, but will get you by in most games. Storage-wise, it has 1 TB of HDD which is plenty of space for all the games you’ll want to run on it. If you find memory lacking, the laptop has an extra RAM slot and an M.2 bay for your SSD.

USER EXPERIENCE